The Simple, Simple Explanation of Two Gunman on 11/22

[Benjamin Cole]

The Simple, Simple Explanation of at Least Two Gunman on 11/22

Here is how Governor John Connally recalled what happened to him on 11/22/1963, after he was struck from behind by a bullet:

“I was knocked over, just doubled over by the force of the bullet. It went in my back and came out my chest about two inches below and the left of my right nipple. The force of the bullet drove my body over almost double and when I looked, immediately I could see I was just drenched with blood.”—- Former Texas Governor John Connally, testimony before the House Select Committee on Assassinations, 1978.

Witness and victim testimonies, as any court reporter knows, can be sketchy. And in the JFKA community, a lot of cherry-picking goes on to find just those quotes that support one view or the other.

But there is something visceral and believable about a man who says he was knocked over by the impact of a bullet—-especially a bullet that encounters and shatters four to five inches of hard rib, as the medical record indisputably shows, in the case of Governor Connally.  

In other words, as the slug passed through Connally on 11/22, it was meeting with resistance, and thus pushing the Governor forward. 

So, let us accept Connally’s testimony in this case (keep in mind, his testimony is corroborated by his wife, who sat next to him that day and who was uninjured, and a nearby Secret Service agent). 

The Zapruder Film

Now, let us review the Zapruder film, which can be seen online, frame by frame. When is Connally pushed forward?

First we see that President Kennedy appears injured when he emerges (from the perspective of the Z-film) from behind the Stemmons Freeway sign in Z-224 and Z-225. JFK’s fists are ascending toward’s his throat in Z-225.

Governor Connally is sitting bolt upright in Z-224, though it appears he is alarmed. 

https://www.assassinationresearch.com/zfilm/z224.jpg

Of course, that already begs the question: If JFK is responding to an injury about ~Z-225, why not Connally, shot by the same bullet, under the Single Bullet Theory of the JFKA?

The Governor has testified he heard the first shot on 11/22, and that he turned around to find the source of the gunfire and to ascertain the President’s condition. 

While no one knows for sure, most JFKA researchers believe the President was shot in the back several frames before Z-224, and that was the first audible gunshot of the day. 

From frames Z-224 through Z-282, we see the Governor make a turn to look over his right shoulder, ultimately making a full, 180-degree turn in his seat, as seen in Z-282. In other words, by frame Z-282, Connally is facing towards the rear of the limousine and towards the TSBD, and appears unharmed. The Z-film runs at about 18 frames per second. 

https://www.assassinationresearch.com/zfilm/z282.jpg

That is, more than three seconds after JFK has been struck in the back by a missile, the Governor is still active, and evidently unaware of any bodily injuries. 

It does not seem possible that the Governor has been struck by the same bullet that struck the President, especially given the Connally’s grievous injuries. 

In the succeeding frames, Connally begins to unwind himself to face forward, just as he testified, and the Governor’s recounting is precisely matched by the Z-film. By Z-295 the Governor is facing towards the Grassy Knoll or colonnade, and around Z-297 he appears to be in pain, and open-mouthed.  

https://www.assassinationresearch.com/zfilm/z297.jpg

The Governor’s body begins to move forward in succeeding frames, and becomes blur a few frames after Kennedy is struck in the head, at Z-313. 

It appears beyond reasonable doubt the Governor Connally was not struck at the same time or by the same bullet as JFK, based on Connally’s testimony, as verified by the Z-film.

The Small Bullet Hole in Connally's Shirt

But there is more. For decades, JFK SBT’ers have posited that the assassin’s slug tumbled as it left JFK’s Adam’s apple front neck area, before slamming into the Governor’s back, making a large scar.

The tumbling and resultant large scar were proof of the SBT, its backers said. 

How this theory ever lasted more than a day, or a few hours, is inexplicable.

Here is a photo of the bullet hole in the rear of Connally’s shirt. 

https://www.tsl.texas.gov/sites/default/files/public/tslac/landing/documents/jfk-damaged-clothing18.pdf

It is small and round bullet hole in Connally's shirt, even with cloth removed for testing, and the hole is just large enough to accommodate a straight shot from a Mannlicher-Carcano slug, or other similar-sized projectile. 

The Mannilicher Carcano slug is one-inch-and-one-quarter long, and a little more than a quarter-inch round. The bullet hole in Connally’s shirt is measured at three-eighths inch by three-eighths inch. The math is not refutable. 

In brief, beyond quibble, Connally was not struck by a tumbling bullet. He took a straight shot. 

Conclusion

Of course, the time elapsed between the shot that struck Connally in the back, a ~Z-295 and the subsequent shot that struck JFK at Z-313 is too brief to have been accomplished by a lone gunman armed with a single-shot bolt-action rifle. It appears about one second separates the two shots, and perhaps less.

The Mannlicher-Carcano rifle requires a bare minimum of two seconds to operate between shots, and that without truly aiming. 

Ergo, either there was a second gunman, or possibly a lone gunman armed with a semi-automatic rifle. 

The above facts alone do not exonerate Lee Harvey Oswald. 

But it does means that the official story, as narrated by the Warren Commission and its backers, cannot be a full accounting of the JFKA.

Where is the rest of the story? 

[Denny Zartman]

The fact that Oswald was seen on the second floor five minutes before the assassination and then seen again on the second floor two minutes after the assassination not sweaty or breathing hard is what exonerates him.

[Charles Blackmon]

Good summary Ben. I have seen some folks on here claim you do not need the SBT to prove LHO acted alone but thats not the way I see it. I wish I had time to dig those posts up. Maybe another day.

[Gerry Down]

This explanation however makes no mention of the Connallys lapel flip at z224?

[Michael Griffith]

23 minutes ago, Gerry Down said:

This explanation however makes no mention of the Connallys lapel flip at z224?

The lapel flip is irrelevant. The part of the lapel that flips is nowhere near the exit hole in Connally's jacket. I think Dr. David Wrone is correct when he says:

          Posner also holds that a bullet caused the flapping of the governor’s lapel.
This occurs on just one frame, 224, which shows a slight disturbance in the
cloth of the lapel only 1/18.3 seconds in duration. But he does not tell the
reader that gusts of wind swept the plaza that day, fitfully blowing
throughout the motorcade. Thus, he completely ignores a possible, even
probable, cause for the flapping lapel. He further states that the lapel has a
bullet hole at the place the bullet caused the flap. But there is no bullet hole
in the lapel of Connally’s jacket. The actual hole in the jacket is about 12
inches from the lapel and 2 inches below the right nipple, and its passing
through the cloth almost a foot away from the lapel could simply not have
caused the lapel to flap. (The Zapruder Film: Reframing JFK’s
Assassination, University Press of Kansas, 2003, p. 118)

[Joe Bauer]

It's almost "Manchurian Candidate" crazy territory to accept that Lee Oswald simply had a major psychotic murder minded break beginning with his General Walker attempt and ending with his alleged JFK and Tippit shooting spree. 

A killing spree so viciously brutal it reflected the mind set of a cold blooded monster.

Yet, this cold blooded monster supposedly loved and was protective of his babies? Of course he wouldn't want anything bad to happen to them.

Yet, he is willing to ruin their lives forever in an act of murderous suicidal insanity?

Who or what flipped the kill switch with LHO?

Wanting self-esteem lacking fame and attention was one thing with Lee O.

Meet me when I arrive in the states press. I have a story to tell. Read my Russia experience manuscript in a book. See me passing out Pro-Castro leaflets in broad daylight, downtown Castro hating New Orleans and even engaging in a fist fight there. See me on TV there talking about my Marxist views all speaks to this psychological insecurity.

But to then elevate this attention seeking need to viciously taking out a U.S. President ( that he and his young wife supposedly admired ) and in broad daylight and in front of hundreds of eye witnesses ( and probably destroying his children's lives in the process ) defies Lee Oswald's known behavior history logic to a degree that begs rational doubt, suspicion and disbelief. 

It's easier to believe the other scenario...."I am just a Patsy!"

Submersing oneself into the JFK assassination truth seeking mystery story is a journey into a "Twilight Zone" TV Show episode. You are left wondering what is real and unreal.

A real mind twister experience.

On this 59th birthday of America's darkest day I just want to think about the good feelings JFK inspired in millions of young people like me during his presidency.

P.E. got a lot harder though. All our schools adopted and initiated JFK's " lets get our young people in better shape" mandate.  Run the mile under a certain time. Lets see 25 push ups. And 12 "real" pull ups! Climb that rope, lift that bale, tote that barge!

Before then P.E. was easy street.

 

[Guest]

I still need to go study the Zapruder film, I know I already have some questions.

Apparently the recording/exposing speed of 18.3 fps is agreed to by most (?).  It's supposed to be 16 fps, but H&B had set it to the latest standard of 18 (and a bit) ? 

Also, most believe the speed reached by the spring-load is pretty constant, the H&B had a tech novelty to accomplish that, but was it really that good ? 

HS recording/exposing was possible (at 48 fps) and normally it would be used when filming moving objects, here it was not... (HS exposing = better slow motion).    I don't know why Zapruder choose the standard while he was filming a moving object, has anyone asked him ?  This could be of course because he had not much film left, so how much was left unexposed ?  

The above are only some of the questions, but the answers (cq. a number of frames more or less ps) can have a huge importance in timing of course.

 

Edited November 22, 2022 by Jean Paul Ceulemans

[Guest]

In the beginning of the JFK-scene Zapruder stopped filming for a moment and continued a little later.

Now, to me that would make perfect sense, if he was switching from standard (approaching vehicles coming in his direction) to high-speed (filming the vehicles as they were passing him). Well, that's how I would have done it.   Or was he simply worried about the amount of unexposed film left ? That could also make perfect sense, but the amount of film left is important to exclude this).

 

 

 

[Benjamin Cole]

4 hours ago, Jean Paul Ceulemans said:

In the beginning of the JFK-scene Zapruder stopped filming for a moment and continued a little later.

Now, to me that would make perfect sense, if he was switching from standard (approaching vehicles coming in his direction) to high-speed (filming the vehicles as they were passing him). Well, that's how I would have done it.   Or was he simply worried about the amount of unexposed film left ? That could also make perfect sense, but the amount of film left is important to exclude this).

 

 

 

JP--

If I recall correctly, Zapruder said he never stopped filming. That is, once he sighted the limo near the top of Elm Street, he began filming until the limo left the scene. 

So...the gap in the Z-film is puzzling. I had an old-fashioned Super-8 movie camera, circa 1960s, I believe Sears brand. 

The camera was either wind-up or battery-powered and made a mild whirring noise when filming, and you could feel a slight vibration through the handle of the camera.

That is to say, the operator of the camera is easily aware of whether the camera is filming or not. 

Interesting. 

 

 

[Benjamin Cole]

9 hours ago, Michael Griffith said:

The lapel flip is irrelevant. The part of the lapel that flips is nowhere near the exit hole in Connally's jacket. I think Dr. David Wrone is correct when he says:

          Posner also holds that a bullet caused the flapping of the governor’s lapel.
This occurs on just one frame, 224, which shows a slight disturbance in the
cloth of the lapel only 1/18.3 seconds in duration. But he does not tell the
reader that gusts of wind swept the plaza that day, fitfully blowing
throughout the motorcade. Thus, he completely ignores a possible, even
probable, cause for the flapping lapel. He further states that the lapel has a
bullet hole at the place the bullet caused the flap. But there is no bullet hole
in the lapel of Connally’s jacket. The actual hole in the jacket is about 12
inches from the lapel and 2 inches below the right nipple, and its passing
through the cloth almost a foot away from the lapel could simply not have
caused the lapel to flap. (The Zapruder Film: Reframing JFK’s
Assassination, University Press of Kansas, 2003, p. 118)

That is right. There are small round holes in JBC's jacket, including a remarkable clean and small exit hole.

 

10 hours ago, Denny Zartman said:

The fact that Oswald was seen on the second floor five minutes before the assassination and then seen again on the second floor two minutes after the assassination not sweaty or breathing hard is what exonerates him.

DZ-

Two minutes? Five minutes? LHO was a 24-year-old man who had gotten through Marine boot camp at age 17. 

Surely, LHO could have gotten up the stairs (or elevator, as was the case) in five minutes.

Getting back down the stairs (downhill) in under two minutes is easy. 

AFAIK, no one knows where was LHO when shots rang out. 

Just IMHO....

 

[Joseph McBride]

Zapruder testified before the Warren Commission

that he filmed the turn onto Elm Street. So the

jump in the footage is an obvious indication

of the tampering that went on with the film

at the CIA secret facility in Rochester that weekend.

[Benjamin Cole]

6 minutes ago, Joseph McBride said:

Zapruder testified before the Warren Commission

that he filmed the turn onto Elm Street. So the

jump in the footage is an obvious indication

of the tampering that went on with the film

at the CIA secret facility in Rochester that weekend.

JM--

Yes, that is what I recall (about the filming itself). 

As you can see from my above comment, I actually operated a 1960s-style home movie camera. I believe Sears brand, although the retailer just had equipment made for them by others, and then branded. It may have been a Bell & Howell. 

The operator of such a camera easily knows whether it is running or not. 

Sure, in the excitement, and unfamiliar with the equipment, maybe Zapruder stopped filming and was unaware of it. Then started filming again, also unaware. 

I doubt it. I suspect the film was stripped out. 

I wonder why. I suspect it was stripped out as it showed JFK was uninjured all the way until the Stemmons Freeway sign. 

This compressed the amount of time available for "three" shots to be fired, and the public narrative was that LHO had used a single-shot bolt action rifle. But who knows? 

 

[Michael Griffith]

14 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said:

That is right. There are small round holes in JBC's jacket, including a remarkable clean and small exit hole.

Lone-gunman theorists overlook or ignore the severe problems posed for the SBT by the very irregular H-shaped hole in the front of Connally's shirt. I tried in vain for weeks in another major JFK forum to get lone-gunman theorists to explain how an exiting CE 399 could have made such a defect. The hole consisted of two very uneven vertical tears, one of which was over half an inch (1.7 cm) longer than the other, and a horizontal tear. The HSCA described it as follows:

          Clothing-Shirt (front). . . . The midpoint of the defect is 15.7 centimeters to the right of the midline and 27.9 centimeters below the shoulder seam. The long axis extends inferiorly and medially at an angle of approximately 60° from the vertical axis of the shirt. This joins medially a vertical linear tear measuring 3.1 by 0.1 to 0.2 centimeters and is paralleled by another vertical linear tear measuring 4.8 by 0.1 to 0.2 centimeters. (7 HSCA 145)

The Warren Report describes it this way:

          A very irregular tear in the form of an "H" was observed on the front side of the Governor's shirt, approximately 1 1/2 inches high, with a crossbar tear approximately 1 inch wide, located 5 inches from the right side seam and 9 inches from the top of the right sleeve. (p. 94)

How could a non-deformed bullet like CE 399 have created this irregular defect? This defect resembles tears formed by a severely deformed bullet or by one or more bullet fragments, just as Connally's chest surgeon, Dr. Robert Shaw, concluded. Given that the bullet shattered several inches of rib bone, it would be only natural that it fragmented or at least suffered marked deformity. It is hard to fathom how a bullet shaped like CE 399, i.e., a non-deformed bullet, could have made the uneven H-shaped defect.

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by Michael Griffith

[Benjamin Cole]

21 minutes ago, Michael Griffith said:

Lone-gunman theorists overlook or ignore the severe problems posed for the SBT by the very irregular H-shaped hole in the front of Connally's shirt. I tried in vain for weeks in another major JFK forum to get lone-gunman theorists to explain how an exiting CE 399 could have made such a defect. The hole consisted of two very uneven vertical tears, one of which was over half an inch (1.7 cm) longer than the other, and a horizontal tear. The HSCA described it as follows:

          Clothing-Shirt (front). . . . The midpoint of the defect is 15.7 centimeters to the right of the midline and 27.9 centimeters below the shoulder seam. The long axis extends inferiorly and medially at an angle of approximately 60° from the vertical axis of the shirt. This joins medially a vertical linear tear measuring 3.1 by 0.1 to 0.2 centimeters and is paralleled by another vertical linear tear measuring 4.8 by 0.1 to 0.2 centimeters. (7 HSCA 145)

The Warren Report describes it this way:

          A very irregular tear in the form of an "H" was observed on the front side of the Governor's shirt, approximately 1 1/2 inches high, with a crossbar tear approximately 1 inch wide, located 5 inches from the right side seam and 9 inches from the top of the right sleeve. (p. 94)

How could non-deformed bullet like CE 399 have created this irregular defect? This defect resembles tears formed by a severely deformed bullet or by one or more bullet fragments, just as Connally's chest surgeon, Dr. Robert Shaw, concluded. Given that the bullet shattered several inches of rib bone, it would be only natural that it fragmented or at least suffered marked deformity. It is hard to fathom how a bullet shaped like CE 399, i.e., a non-deformed bullet, could have made the uneven H-shaped defect.

 

Interesting comment....but not sure. 

JBC's jacket, front bullet hole, shows a very clean exit. 

https://www.tsl.texas.gov/sites/default/files/public/tslac/landing/documents/jfk-damaged-clothing18.pdf

see also http://www.paullee.com/jfk/factorfabrication.php 

for an example of where is the front bullet hole (well away from the lapel, btw). 

It appears the bullet left a clean exit hole in JBC's  jacket. 

My guess is the bullet exited JBC's body with a "halo" of bones that tore the shirt, but the shirt held the bones, while the bullet kept going....

BTW, JBC's clothes were misplaced for a couple months after the JFKA. I wrote a story about at KennedyandKing....

https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/the-strange-strange-story-of-governor-connally-s-shirt-coat-and-congressman-henry-b-gonzalez

You can't make this stuff up.....

 

[Michael Griffith]

2 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said:

My guess is the bullet exited JBC's body with a "halo" of bones that tore the shirt, but the shirt held the bones, while the bullet kept going....

Or a large bullet fragment accompanied by smaller bullet fragments tore the shirt and the smaller fragments were held by the shirt while the large fragment exited the coat. After pulverizing 4 inches of rib bone, it likely that the bullet fragmented to some degree, and that it suffered visible deformity.

In connection with this, I should note that Dale Myers and many other WC defenders consistently misrepresent the size of Connally's back wound as 3 x 0.8 cm, when in fact its original size was 1.5 x 0.8 cm. The 3 cm size was its size after it was surgically altered, as the surgeon, Dr. Robert Shaw, explained. 1.5 x 0.8 cm is virtually the same size as JFK's rear head entry wound, which was 1.5 x 0.6 cm. This fact refutes the theory that the bullet that struck Connally's back was tumbling. The bullet entered at a right angle or at a tangent, and this is by far the most plausible explanation for the dimensions of Connally's back wound.